


The Assignment

by g00denough



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Aged Up, F/M, Fluff, Highschool AU, Mentions of Sex, Underage Drinking, but no actual sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:21:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26187109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/g00denough/pseuds/g00denough
Summary: 2 kids from the opposite ends of the spectrum. She's a bookworm and he's the troubled star athlete. They collide together to complete a class project: write a love story
Relationships: Jinora/Kai (Avatar)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 45





	1. Bookclub

The voices coming outside the hall continued to grow louder as Jinora opened up her book, The Mark of Athena, preparing herself for her weekly book club session. She had just finished a nice conversation with Opal about the last chapter when Mako and another young boy trudged in.

  
Mako shoved the kid into a chair and stared him in the eye, "Sit. Be quiet. Do as I say; and maybe, just maybe, I won't tell Principal Beifong what happened a few minutes ago."  
"Whatever," the boy replied, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.

  
Jinora and the rest of the group watched the endeavor quietly, not daring to interrupt Mako, even if he was being a bit harsh. Mako turned around to face the group, "Sorry 'bout that," he took his coat off and sat down in a desk next to the boy he just scolded. "Did everyone finish last week's reading?" He scanned the young high schoolers acknowledging every nodding head, "Good. So today,"he gestured to the boy still slumped in the chair, "we have a new member joining us. He will be just sitting in until our next book." Mako waved around and mumbled to the kid to introduce himself.

  
"Uh," the boy looked up, adjusting his hoodie, "my name is Kai. I'm a sophomore, and I am being forced to do this against my will."

  
Jinora giggled, soon the sound of constant laughter bounced around in the room. Mako let out a loud cough to silence everyone. He opened his book and waited for everyone else to follow.  
Jinora focused on Kai more than the book. She scanned his features. Yes, she had seen him around the school a few times. Jinora spent the whole hour thinking about Kai. He was the troublemaker in her class, had to repeat fourth grade (so he was a year older), star of the lacrosse team, and the bad boy every girl seemed to know about. Yet Jinora was still a stranger to him.  
All too soon the book club ended, "Okay everyone," Mako called out, "read to page 177 for next week's session. Have a good week!" he finished, shutting his book with care.

  
Jinora came up to him, afterall, he was her ride home. "Great session today Mako!"

  
"Thanks Jinora. how do you like the book so far?" Mako asked her.

  
"I love it! Percy and Annabeth are so cute together!" she replied sincerely. She dropped her voice a bit, "so why is Kai with you?"

  
"Oh," Mako sighed, "Mrs Beifong made me his mentor for the week. Not sure why, but I'm sure i will hate every second of it."

  
"Hey! I'm not that annoying!" Kai protested with some humor in his voice, "It was either this or suspension; and if I get another suspension I can't play lacrosse next season. So we will both suffer my dear Mako." Kai finished, adding over dramatic hand gestures.

  
"Whatever Kai," Mako replied, "I'll take you home after I drop Jinora off at her house."

  
"Cool." he said, looking at Jinora. "You're that government dude's daughter, right?"

  
Jinora blushed and bit and pushed a loose hair behind her ear, "Yeah, my dad is councilman Tenzin. And you're Kai, the lacrosse prodigy and trouble maker, right?"

  
"Wow, way to summarize sweetie," Kai grinned. he looked back to Mako, "I like this one Mako. She's pretty cool." Kai turned his head back to Jinora, "Well I'm Kai," he held out his hand.  
Jinora took it graciously, "I'm Jinora," she shook his hand lightly.

  
Kai obliged to her shake and slowly release her hand, "This week may not be as bad as I thought."

  
Monday came around way too fast. Jinora swore it was Friday only a few hours ago; but time slipped away when all she could do was think about that boy. She spent hours daydreaming over open textbooks, staring at her ceiling, blanking out conversations with her father; she never stopped. Jinora knew what was happening, she went through the same thing with that terrible boy, Skoochy; but Kai was just so attractive.

  
She drove into school on Monday, wearing just a little makeup and a new outfit, she was so excited. Classes went by in a blur. As she walked into her English 10 class she froze. Since when was Kai in this class? she thought. She shook herself out of her stoop and quickly took her seat. The teacher, Mrs Kya, stood from behind her desk and motioned for the class to quiet down, "Okay class, for your semester projects I will be matching you all up with a partner of the opposite to write a love story in relation to Romeo and Juliet." Groans came from all corners of the room, as did some cheers, "Okay, quiet now class. Your story will be due on the day of the final, and it does not have to be like Romeo and Juliet, it just has to be a love story. I don't care who or what you make fall in love. If you want two blades of grass to be soul mates, then so be it. Just write a good love story," Mrs Kya explained, "when I call out the partners please go sit down next to them."

  
Mrs Kya rattled off names, there were loud claps from guys and giggles from the girls. Out, out, out… all the guys Jinora could hope to be paired with were partnered up. She snapped out of her phase when she heard her name, "Uh?" was all she said.

  
"Jinora. You're paired with Kai." Mrs Kya said again. "Okay, any stragglers? No? Good. You will have the next two weeks in class to work. Have fun with it!" Mrs Kya sat back down at her desk.  
"Hey." Kai came over with his torn backpack and a pencil flipping in his fingers. "I guess we got to write a love story? What d'you think about this?" he asked.

  
"Um," she could feel her face heating up, "it's not the worst assignment ever. At least we get some freedom. Love stories can be made from just about anything."

  
"Yeah," Kai took a seat and waited for Jinora to sit too, "What do you think about love?"

  
"I don't love anybody," came out of Jinora's mouth faster than she could think, "I mean, it's a special thing. We all have a soul mate out there somewhere."

  
"So you believe in the whole 'soul mates' thing? Well I'm more of a love at first sight guy myself." And that is how the entire class went. They never wrote a single word, no ideas, no prompts or characters. They just talked about love.

  
Thursday came by slowly.It was like it was crawling down Jinora's spine. The knowing that she was going to spend another 2 hours in class with Kai and then work together after school again. She wrote little notes during all her classes, stayed out of the way, and tried to escape into her little world away from reality.

  
But when English class came around she was practically running to class. She turned into the classroom, "Ow!"

  
"Ow!" Kai rubbed his head and felt the blood run over his tongue. He looked up in a daze. "Oh, uh, sorry Jinora." He got up quickly and held his hand out to Jinora.

  
"Kai! Sorry, I was going to fast and wasn't looking. This is all my fault I'm…"

  
He cut her off, "Can you please stop talking and let me help you up?" she let him grab his hand as he lifted her up. "Here," he said, handing her the book she dropped, "I've been working on catching up with the book club reading."

  
"You mean the Percy Jackson Series?" she asked him, taking back her book.

  
Kai scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, I read the whole PJO series over the weekend. I still need to finish Son of Neptune and catch up to the book club on Mark of Athena."  
"Wow. That's a lot to read in a week," She swept a loose hair behind her ear, "Do you even sleep?" she asked him with a giggle.

  
"No, not really. Not since I meet you." Kai's eyes went wide for a moment and his cheeks flared red.

  
Jinora looked down at her shoes. "Well the bell's about to ring. Uh, we better sit down." She scurried past him and took a seat. Kai followed her and sat in the desk next to Jinora as the bell rang through the halls.

  
After school Jinora and Kai both walked back to Jinora's house together, discussing their English Project, "So, do you have any ideas what you want to write about yet?" Kai asked her.  
Jinora said, "Just a few character ideas. I'm not sure about any of them though. I'm pretty sure I just made carbon copies of characters from other books I read."

  
"Yeah. Me too. It feels like all I think about is the Percy Jackson books. My favorite character is Jason. Controlling the air seems pretty cool. What about you?"

  
"I'm not sure. If I had to choose I would say Piper."

  
"Wow. I pegged you for more of an Annabeth girl myself," Kai said.

  
"Don't get me wrong. I love all of the seven. But Piper is so underrated, she doesn't get all the love she deserves."  
"Well then I guess I'm Jason and you're Piper."

  
"You know that they're dating in the books, right?" Jinora asked him.

  
"Yeah", he said, looking at her, "I know."

  
They came through the door to be welcomed by Jinora's mother, Pema. "How was school Jino… who's your friends sweetie?" she changed her question mid sentence at the sight of Kai.

  
Jinora coughed, gathering her mother's attention away from Kai, "Mom," she hissed, "this is Kai. We have an english assignment to work on so we'll be in my room." She grabbed Kai's arm and dragged him up the stairs.

  
Pema waved at them, "It was nice to meet you Kai!"

  
Kai answered back before he disappeared behind the stairs, "You too Ma'am!"

  
Jinora pushed Kai into her room and slammed the door shut with her body, "Okay. At least my Dad isn't home." She hung her bag on the desk chair and sat down. So what part of the story do you want to work on first?"

  
Kai looked up from his bag. He let himself sit on the bed, taking out his books and pencils, "Uh, I don't really care. I'm not that good at this stuff. What do you want to do?"

  
Jinora rolled her pencil between her fingers, "Well, I've been making some character ideas and a few prompts. But we need to decide on what kind of love first. Like is it sibling love or love love?" She looked at Kai for his response.

  
"Well, I like to classic falling for the first time thing. What 'bout you?" Kai answered.

  
"Yeah. I like that one too. The butterflies, flushing, awkward conversations," Jinora stopped short, realizing the blush spreading in her cheeks and the irony in her words. She got up and walked over to sit next to Kai on the bed. "Well, I made these traits and character designs. Here," Jinora handed her notebook to Kai, watching his eyes scan over her work.

  
"Hand me a pen?" Kai asked. Jinora clicked the pen and handed it to him. He took it slowly, freezing as their skin made contact. "I was just thinking," he said, "we should make them have some bad traits too. Like real life people."

  
Jinora and Kai nearly finished their character charts and and story arch for the first half of their story. They talked about their past crushes, what love was like to them, Kai even held onto Jinora's hand for a minute when she was talking about her failed relationship with her ex.

  
"It's almost 7. We should call it a day," Jinora said.

  
Kai stacked his papers and slid them into his bag, "Yeah," he got up, "and today was fun Jinora."

  
They walked down the stairs together and out to the porch, strategically avoiding Jinora's family, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Jinora asked.

  
"Yeah, I'll be in class waiting for you." He kissed her cheek and turned away fast, riding down the street on his skateboard. Jinora walked back inside in a stupor, distracted for the rest of the night by the faint tickle on her cheek.


	2. Bail Money

Jinora sat through all of her classes just like normal. She took notes, just like normal. She answered all the questions that she could, just like normal. She thought about Kai’s lips on her cheek, not normal. It felt like her life was flipped upside down just because this one boy had kissed her cheek. She wanted to talked to him. She wanted to know what this meant so bad that she started asking people what Kai’s normal schedule was. It turned out that everyone knew who he was, but nobody knew anything about him.

  
She walked into her English class, hoping to find him there. She scanned the room quickly, she was one of the first people in class so she took her seat. She waited for five agonizing minutes, glaring at each person who set foot in the room. She heard the loud ring of the bell to signal the start of class. Maybe he’s just late she thought. She kept her eyes on the door for the whole hour. She watched as people walked by the room. Her hopes would spike as the sound of footsteps got closer, but it was never him. The class ended with an abrupt ring of the bell. She gathered her things and slowly walked to her next class. She barely got to her seat on time.

  
The weekend was slow moving. Jinora searched for Kai on any social media she could think of. She found some pictures of him from lacrosse, and a few notices about his trouble with the police, but he was nowhere. You would think that a guy who so many people knew would have a facebook or and instagram, he didn’t even have a twitter account.

  
Late Saturday night she received a text from her ex boyfriend. _Hey babe_. She saw Skoochy name and wanted to delete it. She wondered why his number was still in her phone. She guess she just wanted to know when not to pick up her phone. A little bubble popped up to show that he was typing, _Your boy toy tried to beat me up. The wimp got dragged away by the cops_. She read the text with a lot of confusion. She was so curious about what he meant. She gave in a responded.

  
_What are you talking about?_

  
He replied, _That doofus Kai. He came at me. Something about hurting you…_

  
She stared at her phone wide eyed, _WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO SKOOCHY???_

  
He responded quickly, _Nothing. We got in a fight and the next thing I know some cops are pulling us apart. My parents bailed me out. I think Kai is still in holding. LOL_

  
She couldn’t blame anyone for wanting to punch his smug face, _What station Skoochy?_

  
_Why do you care?_ he asked her.

  
_What station?_ is all she typed.

  
_Republic City East._

  
She ran downstairs and found the car keys. She had her license, only for a month now, but a license none the less. She grabbed her wallet, with as much money as she could find and drove off. It took 15 minutes to get there, and she drove nearly 20 mph over the limit. She arrived at the station around 11:50 pm. Behind a desk sat an older man, probably in his 60s. He seemed to be reading the paper but was on the verge of falling asleep. She walked up to the desk, “Is their a Kai Argisto here?” she asked him.

  
He looked down at her, “and who would you be?”

  
“I’m councilman Tenzin’s daughter and Kai’s friend. Now is he here and how much is his bail?” she told him sternly. She wasn’t going to gamble with this guy.

  
“Yeah, he’s here. His bail is $300. But you need to be over eighteen to post a bail,” he informed her.

  
Jinora pulled out her phone and called Mako. For all that was good he would be willing to come sign off on Kai. She heard the phone ring and then a loud song came blaring from the back of the office. Jinora watched Mako jump up and answer his phone. “Mako?” she asked him loudly. “Mako what are you doing here?” she asked him.

  
Mako looked up from his phone and saw Jinora with her phone in hand. He pressed a button and the ringtone stopped. “Jinora? What are you doing here?” he said. He got up from the seat he was napping in and walked over to her. “Why are you here so late?” he paused, “Wait. How did you get here?” He glared down at her with a questionable look.

  
“One, I drove here,” she jingled the care keys in his face, “and two, I’m here to get Kai.” Mako’s face went dull. He looked at the guy sitting in the desk.

  
“Can he get out on bail?” Mako asked the desk cop. He answered him quickly and Mako looked back at Jinora. He shook his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Are you going to post his bail?” He asked her.

  
“I have it right here, but I’m not old enough to post it.” She said, glaring at the desk cop. Mako let out a long sigh and told her that he would sign off on it. The cop clicked a few things, and asked Jinora to hand over the money. She handed him $300 worth of twenties and tens. He counted it out slowly and then had Mako sign a few papers.

  
“I’ll be right back with him,” the cop said as he stood up and walked away.

  
“You never told me why you were already here,” Jinora told Mako.

  
“I’m in the deputy police department program,” he answered. “Now what do you plan to do once you get Kai?” he glanced at her. “Are you gonna take him to his house? Take him to your house?” he grinned at her, “I know that your Dad would probably murder someone if he found a boy with you this late at night.”

  
“I don’t know yet,” she said. “I just wanted to get him out,” jinora tried to hide the small blush that was creeping into her face. “We have an English project we have to do together,” she quickly said, “he won’t be much help if he’s in jail.”

  
“Whatever you say kid,” he laughed.

  
The cop came back with a sleepy Kai in trail. “What do you mean someone posted my bail?” Kai asked the cop. “No one cares about me… what are you doing here?” Kai asked Jinora as he went around the corner. She just glanced at Mako and smiled.

  
“I care about you, now come on,” she said, grabbing his arm. She dragged him to her car and sat him in the front seat. they drove out of the parking lot and went onto the freeway. “What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked him after five minutes of silence. “Why would you go fight Skoochy?” she faced him, “and then get arrested for it?”

  
“You could say thanks,” he whispered.

  
“Why would I thank you?” she asked him.

  
“I did it for you,” he told her. “He made you cry, so I made him cry. A broken arm can do that to people.” he grinned, thinking about it. “Why did you ever date him anyways, he’s a wimp, can’t fight at all,” he commented.

  
“I don’t care what Skoochy did to me,” she told him. “I’m over it.” She waited a minute, “Where do you live?”

  
Kai did this weird laugh, almost nervous, “I don’t really have a home per say. It’s more like a temporary place where I sleep,” he told her. He waited for it, the judgmental glare that people give him when he tells them that he is basically homeless.

  
“Okay, then you're coming to my house,” she told him. She took an exit and drove into the suburban streets to her house. “be quiet, I don’t want to wake up my parents.” They walked up stairs, tip toeing past the many doors to get to her room. They got in and she closed the door and locked it. “You're going to sleep on the floor tonight. Here,” she handed him some of her pillows and a blanket. “Just don’t leave my room, okay?”

  
“Why are you doing this?” he asked her. “No one has ever done this for me,” he looked down at his feet, “thank you.”

  
“You got in that fight because of me, I guess,” she glared at him again. “But for the love of my life and yours, do not leave this room, do not make any noise, and please do not make this a big deal. I swear if I hear people say that you spent the night with me I will hunt you down.” she gave him this stare that told him she wasn’t lying, but it slipped into a grin.

  
“I wouldn’t do that to you Jinora,” he told her. “But seriously, why are you doing this for me?” he asked her again, but in a way that made it impossible for her not to answer.

  
“Like I said, no one has ever stood up to Skoochy for me. I owe you for getting you into this mess technically,” she laid down on her bed, “I’ll wake you up when you can leave tomorrow.”  
“Okay, thanks,” Kai said to her again. “Goodnight.”

  
The next morning Jinora woke up around 8 am to find the blanket and pillow that Kai used nicely folded on the ground with a note on to that said, Thanks for letting me stay here. I woke up early and left since no one else was awake. I’ll see you in English class tomorrow. Thanks again, Kai.

  
She read the note over and realized that she just got away with the most stupidest thing she had ever done. This boy is going to kill me she thought.


	3. A Late Night Reading

Around 2 in the morning Jinora heard her phone buzz against her bedside table. The single buzz didn't surprise her, sometimes she got notifications from random apps she had. Then a second buzz hit, and then another, and another. After a solid minute of her phone bouncing around the table did she finally pick it up. She saw a mass amount of texts from Kai. All of them along the lines of About damn time! or Finally they found Percy!

She figured this would happen to him when he finished The Son of Neptune. She felt the same way as she read that last page. She was about to text him back when her ringtone started to blare from the speakers. Kai was actually calling her. She stared at his name on the phone screen, wondering whether she should actually talk to him right now about a book. She decided to pick up the phone, mainly from the guilt pulling at her to answer the phone for poor Kai. 

“Yeah?” she answered. 

“About time! Tell me that everything works out! I need to know! I don’t Have The Mark of Athena yet and the Library doesn't open until nine!” he was practically screaming into the phone. 

Jinora felt a bit bad for him, but then again she waited a whole year for The Mark of Athena to come out. Kai could wait one night… “I guess you’ll have to wait Kai” she mocked. 

“Jinora… Jin, babe, I have to know right now or you will leave me no choice but to break into the library and take the book,” his voice was strained with laughter. 

Jinora laughed into the phone and grabbed her copy of the book from the shelf. Well, I could read it to you through the phone,” she laughed at the thought of it. She was just kidding but then Kai made a gasp from his side of the phone.

“Jin! You are the best. Just go ahead and start reading, I’ll put my headphones in.”

“Kai, I was kidding,” she told him. But he was already ahead of her. 

“Nope. You said you would Jin, joke or not I am going to know what happens in the first chapter at least. Just one chapter and I think I will be able to sleep tonight.”

Jinora sighed, she knew that she should sleep. But it was a saturday night, and she did love the first chapter of the book, “Fine, but only the first chapter Kai,” she said. 

“Yes! You’re the best, just read when you’re ready,” he said with excitement.

Jinora got up and closed her door so she wouldn’t wake up the rest of her family. She thanked Rava that Ikki was at a sleepover that night or she would have been in big trouble for being on the phone this late, with a guy no doubt. She made sure to read clearly for Kai though the phone. Her lamp shining over the printed words in such a simple but effective glow. She forgot how much she loved staying up late with a good book, and “being” with Kai only made it better. She could tell he was in too deep, he gasped and made sounds of approval all throughout the chapter. “That’s the end of chapter one Kai,” she told him over the phone. 

Kai’s response was immediate, “Oh, come on Jin! just one more chapter! That was such a short chapter and Annabeth and Percy haven’t even reunited yet! One more, please?” he begged her.  
Jinora felt bad for him. And she did really like Percy and Annabeth’s scene in The Mark of Athena. “Fine, one more chapter. But I’m going back to sleep after this chapter Kai,” she warned him.  
“That’s all I asked for. Thanks,” he said with relief, “Go ahead.”

Jinora read on, telling Kai the story of how the massive flying ship was sailing over the roman camp. She knew Percy and Annabeth’s meeting was coming up and she was excited to hear Kai’s reaction. She read aloud, “Annabeth didn’t mean to, but she surged forward. Percy rushed toward her at the same time. The crowd tensed. Some reached for swords that weren’t there. Percy threw his arms around her. They kissed, and for a moment nothing else mattered. An asteroid could have hit the planet and wiped out all life, and Annabeth wouldn’t have cared.” 

She kept on reading to Kai until he interrupted her, “Wait! She judo-flipped him?” he let out this giggle that Jinora thought was adorable, “okay, just keep reading. I think I’m good.” 

Jinora did so, she kept on reading right through the chapter, which was only a few more pages. Jinora closed the book and looked at her phone, the time saying that she had been talking with Kai for nearly an hour. Her bedside clock said that it was 3:04 AM, but strangely, she wasn’t tired. “I forgot how much I loved their first meet up after Son of Neptune,” Jinora said. 

“Man, I can’t wait to read the rest. Where are you guys at in book club anyways?” Kai asked her. 

“We need to read to page 292 by the next meeting on Wednesday,” she told him. She looked back down at the book. She didn’t mean to say it out loud, and she definitely didn’t want to say it to Kai, “Man, I wish there was someone who cared about me that much. Someone who would kiss me like that.” It wasn’t unnatural for Jinora to make comments like that, especially when she read her romance novels, but she just forgot that Kai was listening. She felt the blood rushing to her face and pleaded to Rava that Kai didn’t hear her. She took a breath, “Kai?”

“Yeah?” he responded. 

“Oh,” she still didn’t know if he heard or not, “I thought you hung up,” she told him. 

“Nope, right here. But I think I’m gonna turn in for the night,” he said. She heard the faint sound of a yawn from the phone. 

“Kay, goodnight Kai,” she said, feeling a yawn come over herself. 

“Oh, and Jinora,” he said quickly.

Jinora pulled the phone closer to her ear, “Yeah?”

“I care about you,” he said clearly. Jinora couldn’t imagine the embarrassment that she would feel the next time she saw him. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning Jin.”

“Wait, what?” Jinora asked. But it was too late, Kai had already hung up the phone.


	4. The Next Day

Maybe Jinora was getting sick, or her mind was buzzing way too much; but she couldn’t sleep the rest of the night. She sat there, staring at the lamp sitting on her bedside. She studied the woven texture of the lamp head, how the tight strings wove in and out. The clashing colors of the lamp looked strange when she focused on them, but if she took a breath and saw the whole thing she could find the beauty of all of it. the last thing she remembers is the faint glow of her clock, reading 4:37am before her eyelids dropped. 

Jinora could hear a clicking sound, she was half awake, unknowingly focused on the clicking and scraping noise coming from outside. One eye peeked open, but all she saw was a haze of yellow light beam into her slightly opened eye. A figure slowing came into focus. An outlined body crawling thru the window. Jinora screamed. Her voice caught on the her dried morning throught. “shh!” the figure hissed at her, “Jin, it’s me. Kai,” it said. She started to see his features come into focus, his eyes, then his lips, soon she could see him clearly. 

“Oh my God, Kai! What the hell?” she suddenly felt very uncomfortable in her nightgown. She was under a quilt but she still felt indecent with Kai standing right there. “I was sleeping Kai! And why would you crawl through the window? she harshly whispered at him. Her parents were still home, and if her dad barged in with her in bed and Kai standing over her there wouldn’t be much explaining and more violence. 

“I… I didn’t… I don’t like going through doors?” he tried to answer. He shrugged, and even in her fit of rage Jinora had to admit that he looked cute when he was stumped. 

Kai tried to apologize some more but Jinora stopped him, “whatever, just hope that my parents don’t come in anytime soon. She was about to say something when her ears caught the faint sound of feet coming up the stairs. “of course he comes up,” she looked at Kai, “hide you idiot!” she told him. Kai quickly stuffed himself into her closet, which had small blinds to look through. 

Jinora’s dad came in, he had robes on, like he was ready to go to a professional conference. “Jinora, are you okay sweetie?” he dad asked her. “I heard you scream, what happened?”

“I’m fine dad,” she assured him, “just a dream.” Jinora tried not to look at the closet, but her glance found it’s way to Kai’s eyes through the blinds. Jinora shook her head, then faced her father again, “It was nothing Dad, just a bad dream.” Tenzin glanced at the closet himself, and Jinora heard a small intake of breath. She thought _don’t you dare move Kai_ and grabbed her Dad’s hand before he could get up. “Thanks for checking on me Dad, but really, I’m fine.”

Jinora got up and walked her Dad to the door. “Are you sure you’re okay dear?” Tenzin asked one more time, “I can stay if you need me to.”

“No Dad, I’m perfectly fine,” she opened the door for him. She gave him a hug, “You better get going Dad, you’ll be late for your meeting,” Jinora told her Dad. He left reluctantly walked out the door mumbling about not being needed anymore. “I love you!” Jinora shouted to him before he closed their front door. 

She turned and jumped a little. Kai was already sitting on her bed. “Kai, really?” she asked him. She felt the need to cover herself more, even though this outfit could be perfectly acceptable in public, it wasn’t what she would wear normally. “Can you let me change before you decide to invade my personal space?” 

“I’m not in your personal space,” he told her. He leaned off the bed and crossed the space between them in less than a second, “this,” he said, “is invading your personal space.” She could feel his breath on her face, the heat coming off his body. She couldn’t breath while he was standing so close. Then he backed off, it was over within seconds. “But fine, do you want me to leave the room or sit in the corner with my eyes closed?” he grinned, obviously enjoying this. 

Jinora sighed, she grabbed a set of clothes from her dresser, “I’ll be back in a minute. Do not leave,” she warned. 

“Yes ma’am,” Kai said. He watched Jinora leave with a pile of clothes. Kai picked up _The Mark of Athena_ while she was gone. 

Jinora walked into the bathroom that she shared with her sister. Ikki was in their brushing her teeth, “Ikki can you hurry up?” Jinora asked. 

“Yeah, sure. Give me a minute,” she said through the door. Ikki walked out and looked down at the pile of clothes Jinora had. “Who are you trying to impress?” she asked Jinora, a small grin creeping up her face. 

“I’m not trying to impress anyone,” she defended herself. “Just let me change.”

Ikki blocked the door with her arm, “You’re going to tell me what’s happening or else I could cause you a lot of trouble and you know it,” she told Jinora, “so first of all, who is in your room?” 

Jinora visibly blushed, “No one is in my room, and I’m not trying to impress anyone. Now please let me in the bathroom Ikki,” Jinora told her little sister. 

“No, you’re trying to impress someone. You have the push up bra, and the last time you wore that was with Skoochy and we all know what happened there.” Ikki crossed her arms and smiled at her sister, “You can make this easy or you can make this hard, your choice,” she said. 

“What do you want Ikki?” Jinora asked. She knew she wasn’t going to win this argument and decided it would be faster just to comply to her sister’s blackmail. 

“You do my chores for the week, my math homework, and I want to know who is in your room,” she counted the three demands off on her fingers. “And if you help me with my english essay I’ll make sure no one bothers you all day.”

These weren’t bad commands for Ikki to ask. She could finish her math homework in ten minutes, english was easy, and her chores were to take out the trash and wash the dishes, nothing too challenging. “Fine, I’ll help with your homework and do your chores. But I’m not telling you who is in my room. But you have to keep everyone out of my room for the day.” 

“Fair enough, but there is something in your room?” Ikki gave her sister and proud nod, text me if you need anything. Dad’s at his conference all day, Mom is shopping, and Milo and Rohan are at the Mathew’s all day. It’s just you and me, and I can remove myself.” Ikki walked passed her and turned around, “Do you need a condom, or…?” she laughed trying to ask the question. 

“Oh my God Ikki! No, god no. Just leave already!” Jinora slammed the door behind her and got the thought of Ikki blackmailing her for the rest of the year out of her head. Jinora got dressed, and put some makeup on, nothing much, but it made her feel better for some reason.

She walked in on Kai reading _The Mark of Athena_ , “How’s it going so far?” she asked him, pointing at the book. 

“Fine. So who was that blackmailing you outside the bathroom?” he asked her. Placing a bookmark at the page he was on. “I heard you,” he grinned, “Does this make me your dirty little secret?” He gave a suppose-to-be seductive glance. It just made Jinora laugh. 

“In you dreams fanboy,” she laughed as she sat down on the bed and picked up the book he was reading. She scanned over the page he was on. “So you're at the part where Annabeth is told her destiny?” she asked Kai. 

“Yep, they’re laying it down hard on her. Poor girl, must be hard,” he said. Kai walked around the bed and laid down in the spot next to Jinora. “You wanna just keep reading while you’re already where I am?” Jinora scowled at him and started reading to Kai. 

They read for nearly three hours. Jinora really liked reading aloud to him. She was able to emphasis certain part. Sometimes Kia would stop her to ask her a question. Sometimes she would answer him, and other times she just told him to wait and see. It was surprisingly pleasant to just read, Jinora didn’t even notice when Kai’s head drifted to lay on her shoulder. It wasn't until Kai finally stopped her from reading another chapter that she noticed. “You hungry?” He asked her. She looked down at him, his head resting on her shoulder, their legs tangled so that she could hold the book but Kai could still follow the words on the page.

She closed the book and brought herself away from him, “Yes, I thought you would never ask!” she got off the bed and motioned for Kai to follow her. She lead them to the kitchen and started to pull out supplies to make sandwiches. She pulled out a plate for Kai and looked at him, “Did you think I was going to make your sandwich for you?” she glared at him until he walked around to make his sandwich. 

“A guy can dream, can’t he?” he looked back at her. He made his sandwich, preparing a sandwich that even Jinora had to admit looked amazing. 

“Maybe I should ask you to make my sandwich,” she told him, comparing her messy pile of bread, tofu-turkey, and lettuce to his beautiful creation. “That looks amazing,” she told him. 

Kai glared at his and then looked at Jinora’s sandwich, “Want to switch then?” he asked her. He offered his sandwich to her. Jinora declined, saying that it was his and that he should eat it. Kai shook his head and cut his sandwich in half and then cut Jinora’s sandwich in half. “There,” he said as he swapped two of the halves. “Now we both get a half of each,” he walked away to sit on the couch that Jinora was leading them to before she gawked at his sandwich. 

“Okay,” she said. She joined him on the couch. They just talked about their theories of the book. Jinora teased him about the small amount of details that she knew and he didn’t. “All I’m saying is that Annabeth is going to have to go on her own quest soon. The seven are going to go their separate ways while they all do their part of the prophecy,” she told him. She took the last bite of her lunch as Kai looked at her dumbfounded. 

“You did not just spoil me,” he said in an extremely serious tone, “You did not just do that to me,” he jumped up and looked her dead in the eye, only inches away from her face, “Tell me you did not just spoil the rest of the book for me Jin.” 

“Calm down Kai,” she said, moving her face closer, “it was just a theory.” 

Kai backed down, “Oh,” he said, “sorry.” He told her, realizing that his hand was dangerously close to clasping around her hip. “I just really don’t want to be spoiled,” he moved back, making a clear gap between him a Jinora. “You wanna just go keep reading?” he asked her, pointing upstairs to her room. 

“Yeah, sure,” she said, she grabbed their plates and put them in the sink. “Let’s go.” They went upstair, and fell back into the book. Sure enough, Jinora had been right. The seven split ways and Jinora teased Kai for being so paranoid about her theory. “I told you it was a theory, I’m right with you now. You know just as much as I do.” 

“Wait, so I’m caught up with you?” he asked her, he tried to push himself up but his hand slipped over the pillow he had laid down to avoid touching Jinora. His body basically was over Jinora’s, pressed together. He couldn’t say it wasn’t embarrassing, but he was just tried to play it off and pushed himself up, “sorry Jin, my hand slipped.” 

And as if Jinora could not have been more embarrassed by the current situation her bedroom door opened. Her mom appeared in the doorway, mid sentence, “Jinora, I bought you some… Oh my.” Kai jumped off of her and nearly dove under the bed. “Jinora,” he mother was able to choke out, “can I talk with you?” 

Jinora, still in shock, was barely able to get up. “Um… yeah, sure mom.” Jinora closed the book. She was about to leave when she turned back to Kai. She grabbed the book, took out a piece of paper, and wrote down the page number. Jinora handed the piece of paper to Kai, “why don’t you just go check out the book at the library?” 

Kai, trying to avoid any contact he could with jinora grabbed the piece of paper and his phone. “Um… nice to see you Mrs Gyatso. Uh… see you tomorrow Jin!” kai was out the door and down the stair before either of them could say anything to him. 

Jinora’s mom didn’t break eye contact with her daughter. “We need to have a talk missy. Now.” 

“Okay, but can we not tell Dad about this?” she asked her mom with a pleading smile. 

“No, your father is definitely hearing about this Jinora,” he mother told her. “I thought you were smarter than this! Bringing a boy over without asking us, what were you thinking?” she asked her. 

“Well, to be fair he sort of invited himself over and came in through the window, I had no say in his decision to enter the premises,” Jinora said, without any eye contact. “And we weren’t doing anything! All we did was read, I swear to ravva.”

“You’re telling me that what I walking into was ‘reading’?” she asked her, forcing eye contact. “That,” she gestured to what position Jinora and Kai had been in when she walked in the room, “was not reading.”

“Okay, this is going to sound like an excuse,” she said, her hands threading together, “but his hand slipped.” 

Her mom glared at her with a look that said _I’ll believe that when pigs fly_. “You are in big trouble.” Her mom was leaving the room when she turned around, “and you are the one who will tell your father that you had a boy over without either of us home. Do you understand?” 

“Yes ma’am,” Jinora said, laying back on her bed, thinking of her inevitable doom. Five minutes later she received a text from Kai, _How bad was it?_

_Bad._ she replied, _very bad._


	5. Lunch (Date?)

“Hey”, he called running down the hall. “Why didn’t you answer my text?” he asked her, shifting his backpack up on his shoulder. 

Jinora stomped forward a bit, it wasn’t his fault really, but she still had to deal with the whole mess. “My mom took my phone away, and I have to tell my dad that I let you in the house without him or my mom there tonight when he gets back from his meeting.” Jinora let out a sigh, she was mad about the whole thing mainly because nothing happened. If something actually happened between them, then maybe she would feel guilty for it. She looked Kai in the eye this time, “I’m just mad that she over reacted like this!” she knew that he could at least give her sympathy for this. “She thinks that something happened between us, but nothing happened. I just wish that she would believe me,” she told him. 

Kai blushed, he would never admit this to Jinora, but he  _ really _ wanted something to happen between them. He just didn’t want to push her. He always thought of himself as a nice guy, so he would wait for her to go any farther than he has already gone. Which was only a kiss on the cheek, but he still felt like he pressured that. “Do you want me to tell your parents that nothing happened? Maybe they would believe us if we both said so?” he offered her. 

Jinora thought about that for a second, “Nah,” she told him, “if you were there my dad would probably only think of you as some rebel boy that is trying to ‘ruin the innocence of his daughter’” she quoted her mom from that morning. “It’s fine though, she may be able to keep me locked at home but she can’t do anything at school,” she followed Kai into their English class and sat behind him. “Where are we?” she asked him, pulling out her laptop. “Jason and Piper just meet and then we were going to have them do something… I can’t remember.” 

“Jason was about to ask Piper out for their first date,” he answered, pulling out his sketch books that contained characters, traits, settings, and their plot. He flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for. They has a good system, they had finished the story last week, but they had to type it out and add the small details. Kai would tell Jinora what was suppose to happen, add his own creative detail and all to the story; and Jinora would put the story into better words to make it like a real story. “Jason is going to ask Piper to go to the movies that night with him after the football game.”

“Okay, that’s right,” Jinora began typing away, pushing out a paragraph and dialogue of Jason asking Piper out in the story. Jinora thought it was appropriate to name their characters Jason and Piper. She and Kai meet during book club, they had bonded over the book series,  _ Heroes of Olympus _ . Kai liked Jason the most and Jinora loved Piper, so naturally, they agreed to those names. 

“Is it suppose to be awkward or is Jason super smooth?” she asked, causing Kai to choke on a laugh. 

“Oh, Jason,” Kai said, smirking at Jinora, “he’s super smooth, just like me.” Jinora laughed but Kai kept going, “like this,” he put of this smolder face and rested his hand on Jinora’s, “hey babe, wanna go out tonight? I’ll pick you up at seven.” 

Jinora felt her chest shudder, her cheeks turned crimson and she was painfully aware of Kai’s hand resting on hers. She took a tight breath and pulled her hand away from Kai’s, “smooth, got it.” She typed away, creating the scene on the page. “What happens next?”

“Piper says yes,” he answered. 

Jinora glared at him, she had since calmed herself down, letting the story take over her mind, “I know that she says yes. I mean what happens at the movie?” She typed a few sentences out, “Did we have Jason kiss her at the movie or when he walks her home?” 

“They almost kiss during the movie but then that scary scene happens and Piper freaks out,” he said, face squished against the paper as he scanned the notebook. “Then they kiss on her doorstep.”

Jinora sent her fingers flying, writing the story out as he explained it. The bell rang to end class. Jinora packed her stuff up and was walking out of the room when Kai grabbed her shoulder, “You wanna go get lunch today?” his face was a light pink, but his voice held steady, “so we can work on the story?” he finished. 

Jinora tightened her arms around her books, “yeah,” she tried to make eye contact, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to handle his gaze, “I’ll meet you in the front of the school.” 

“Great, see you then!” Kai ran down the hall. He just hoped that it wasn’t too obvious how much he liked her.  _ Take a breath Kai _ , he told himself,  _ she said yes _ . He was unable to function in his next class. All he could do is think about where he was taking Jinora, and how he was going to ask her out on a real date at lunch. 

Jinora mindlessly wrote down notes in history, her hand flew across the page without thought. Her mind was drifting somewhere else. She had a date with Kai!  _ Not a date _ , she reminded herself,  _ a study session is what it was _ . She was packed up and ready to leave two minutes before the bell even rang. 

Jinora navigated herself through the throng of students. She zipped her backpack up and walked briskly out of the front gate, stopping right behind Kai. She tapped on his shoulder, “Ready to go?” she asked him, showing a slight smile. 

“Yeah, there’s this nice pizza place a few minutes away,” he brought his backpack up to his shoulder, “I thought we could walk there.” Kai flashed a grin and started ahead of Jinora.

“Slow down Kai!” she yelled out, “I’m coming,” Jinora screamed out over her own laughter. She caught up to Kai and heard his own chuckling, “jerk,” she said, punching his arm. 

“I like to keep the ladies chasing," jokes, flashing a goofy grin. He takes his hand through his hair, trying to play off his confidence. 

Jinora laughed, "yeah, I'm sure the lady cops love chasing you around," she told him, giggling at her own joke. 

Kia laughed while raking a hand through his hair, “Yep, they love me at the station,” he said. "Take this right," he instructed her. They rounded the corner and Kai brought her into a small pizza place. "Grab a table," he told her, "I can order our food."

Jinora found a nice corner table, away from some boys from their school. She sat down and saw Kai walking toward her with two plates. "Here," she said, handing him a five dollar bill.

"No need," he motion for her to put the money away, "pepperoni for me, and vegetarian for the lovely lady," he said as he placed the plates on the table. 

Jinora glared at Kai, “I can’t believe you remembered that I’m vegetarian,” she said in disbelief. She took a bite of her pizza, “taste great,” she said. “So should we work on the story?” 

“Yeah,” Kai said, taking a bit of his own pizza. “You were writing the scene where piper kisses Jason on the porch right?” he asked. 

“I just need to finish their conversation as they walk back, give me a minute,” Jinora asked. She took a quick bite and let her fingers fly. Kai relaxed, flipping idly through the notes and eating his pizza. “Ok, how did we make the kiss happen?”

Kai scanned the paper, “it looks like you scribbled something that says ‘she is awkward and kisses him really fast’,” he read out to Jinora. She started typing, pausing to think and then typing again. Kai made a cough, “you also wrote, ‘Jason kisses her back’ in small writing underneath,” he finished. 

“Okay, I think i finished it up,” she turned her laptop to Kai, allowing him to read her new work. “What do you think?” she asked him.

Kai read the last line, “wow,” he gasped, “you’re good.” he sipped his drink and finished that last bite of his pizza. “We should get going soon,” he grabbed his bag, “ready?”

Jinora closed her laptop and took her drink, “let's go,” she said. They walked back to school while chatting about whatever was happening. They gossiped about the new couples around school and Jinora told Kai about her plan on how she was going to tell her father that he was over yesterday. 

Jinora and Kai walked into the school right as the bell rang for next class. Kai turned to go to his class right after saying goodbye to Jinora, “I’ll walk you home after school, you can tell me your eighteen step plan on how you’re going to deal with your dad,” he told her as he walked away.

Jinora meet with him right after last class let out. “Okay, don’t be too upset, but my plan only has twelve steps in it,” she told him as they walked back to her house. 

Kai laughed, “Damn, I thought you were more complex than that Jinora.” Kai’s skateboard held tight in his hand, he spun the wheel mindlessly as they talked. 

“I’ve always wanted to try to ride one of those,” Jinora said, pointing at his skateboard. “Can you teach me?” she asked him. 

Kai let the board fall to the ground, “Sure, step on.” He helped Jinora up and held her hands, “just keep your balance and watch me,” he instructed her. 

Jinora held her balance, and she found it fairly easy to glide across the pavement. She was very aware of her hands in the Kai’s. “This is fun,” she said happily. 

“I’m gonna let go of your hands now,” Kai told her, “just keep moving forward, I’ll be right here.” Kai let go of Jinora’s hands and jogged beside her as she rode down the sidewalk. “Nice Jinora!” Kai said as he ran beside her. 

Jinora felt herself wobble,” Kai, help!” she screamed. Kai grabbed her arm and pulled her off the board before she fell. 

“You good?” he asked her. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she answered. “You better go grab your skateboard.” Kai ran to get his board and came back to Jinora’s side. Jinora, watching him place to board back on the ground backed off a bit, “maybe we should just walk back.”

Kai picked up the board and walked with her the rest of the way. “Okay, that’s fine.” They walked the rest of the way. Kai found them talking about their story, “I think that your writing is amazing Jinora!” he complimented her, “the scene where they kissed was great, you’re really talented.”

Jinora stopped in just before they got to her house, “probably best that my mom doesn't see you right now,” she explained, “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” Kai gave her a half hearted goodbye and turned right before Jinora turned her back around. “Um… Kai, I’ve had a lot of fun the past few weeks hanging out with you,” she said. “I hope we cans still hang out after the project is over.”

“I would love to hang out with you more Jinora,” Kai said to her. He ran a hand through his hair again, a reflex that he has, Jinora noticed. “I like when we hang out, it’s fun.”

Jinora took a step forward, about to finish the walk to her house when Kai blocked her path. “What is it Kai?” Jinora asked him. 

Kai let the words fall out before her could think about it, “I like you.” His cheeks turned bright red and his hands shook slightly on Jinora’s shoulders. 

“I like you too,” Jinora said in a whisper. She knew she was blushing but looked up anyways. “I think you’re really sweet,” she told him. Jinora leaned forward, she was so nervous but so sure at the same time. His breath was so close and warm, so comforting to her. Just a little closer, all she had to do was tilt her chin up and… their lips touched and she felt a warmth fill her chest. It only lasted a second but it felt like an eternity. 

They separated and Kai looked dumbfounded. He mumbled something before kissing her again. he was so happy, it was worth it, so very much worth it, his patience and his dedication to her was so worth it. He felt a jump in his stomach, like it was doing backflips just from this one action. 

“Jinora!” they both heard and jumped away. “What is going on?” Jinora’s face was in a state of shock. Why did her dad have to come home then? Why did he have to ruin her moment with Kai? Tenzin marched towards them, “I don’t suppose you want to introduce me to this young man?” he said in an angered voice. 

Kai held a shaky hand and brushed his other hand through his hair again, “My name is Kai sir.”


	6. Pema Saves the Day

“Of all the things…” Tenzin mumbled for the tenth time. He paved the small room, glancing at the couch where his daughter and her (boyfriend?) sat. “How long?” he asked again into the room. “I thought she would know better,” also bounced around. 

Jinora knew that he was just mad, and that he didn’t mean it to offend Kai, but jinora also knew that Kai didn’t know her father the way she did. She nudged her way closer to him on the couch and whispered, “Don’t take it personally,” to him. 

Kai seemed fine, considering. His face was set, not showing much emotion. He sat patiently, like he has been through this before and knew that he should just wait it out. “I’m fine,” he whispered back. He thought how it went downhill so fast. He was kissing her.. KISSING JINORA, and then her Dad saw us kissing and got mad. Understandable he thought. He tried to play it off cool, tried to introduce himself and praise Tenzin for raising such a lovely lady. But he wouldn’t have any of it. He just corralled them into the house and sat them on opposites ends of the couch (even though they shuffles their way back towards each other). 

Jinora was a bit rougher, she sat rigid with a red (and guilty looking) face. She didn’t regret it, she just wished that it ended  _ differently _ . Jinora would look up every now and then to glance at her parents. Her Dad marching in circles angrily and her mom standing to the side with a neutral face. 

Tenzin stopped suddenly and turned towards the two teens, “Just tell me what happened,” he asked. 

Kai started to talk but Tenzin quickly put up a hand, “Jinora, what happened?” he asked again. 

Jinora audibly swallowed the lump in her throat, “Well, Kai and I were assigned to write a story together for an English project, a love story actually, so we were spending a lot of time together and we both like eachother and we kissed and you saw us?” she said really fast. She looked at her dad questionly, looking for any sympathy in his eyes. None. 

“You can’t just go around kissing…” Tenzin was cut off by his wife. 

Pema stepped between Tenzin and Jinora, “What your incredibly protective Father is trying to say is that you should have told us that you and Kai were dating.”

“We’re not dating!” Jinora retorted, “I mean, we never said we were. That’s up to Kai,” she said. She looked at him, his face looked hurt but recovering. She wrapped her pinky around his, “Do you want to date me Kai?” she asked. 

Kai’s face went red, his pulse racing. It felt like he was sweating but he knew he wasn’t. “Yes!” he nearly screamed. “Um- “ he coughed, “I mean… yes, I would love to go out with you.”

“Smooth like Jason, yeah?” she laughed. 

“You caught me off guard,” he laughed back at her. 

Jinora relaxed at their usual banter, but was brought back to reality by her oh-so-annoying father. “Do I have any say in this?” he asked to no one in particular. 

Jinora was saved from answering that question by her mom, “You,” she said with a hand on her husband’s chest, “do not have a say in our daughter’s love life.” Jinora was in the middle of thanking her mom when she was interrupted, “BUT, we will talk. All three of us,” she said pointing to Jinora and Kai. “You can go now honey,” she said, dismissing Tenzin. 

He was about to put up a fight, but the look on his wife’s face told him to leave the room quickly. “Just call if you need me!” he said, leaving the room.

“Thank you Mrs Gyatso,” Kai said. 

Jinora’s mom stood in front of them, not threatening, but definitely intimidating. “Okay, ground rules. No kissing in front of me or your father,” she started. 

“Mom!” Jinora said, gaging on the thought of deliberately kissing Kai in front of her parents.

“Just listen, and save questions for the end please” she said. She took a seat between them this time. “Okay, so no kissing. You need to tell me or your father when or if Kai is coming over. If you are in your room the door stays opened,” Jinora winced again, “and I ask that either of you come to me with any problems.” Pema now turned to Kai and spoke to him directly, “You seem like a kind young man. Jinora obviously likes you very much and I can see how happy you’ve already made her with your friendship. All I can ask is that you treat her and the rest of my family with the respect that you want us to treat you with,” Pem grasped his hand and gave him a light hug. 

“Thank you, and I will,” Kai told her. 

Pema got up and began to leave the two alone, “Oh, and if Tenzin gives you any trouble just tell me. He can be very protective sometimes, but he just doesn't want jinora to get hurt like last time.”

Jinora winced again, mumbling under her breath about Skoochy. Kai held her hand, lacing their finger, “I’ll protect her ma’am, I promise.”

“You do that,” she nodded. 

Jinora looked up at Kai for the first time since they kissed, “So…”

Kai stopped her and asked, “where would you life to go for our first date?”


	7. The First Date

“The library wasn’t exactly what you think of when someone asks you to go on a  _ romantic date _ ,” Kai whispered because they were currently in the city library. 

“You said I could choose where,” Jinora quipped.

Kai sighed, “well I thought you chose a place with a better ‘date’ vibe.”

Jinora drew a breath then shakily held his hand, “I wanted to share this with you. The library is where I go to settle down; it’s my happy place.”

Kai rubbed soothing circles into Jinora’s hand, “In that case, I’m so glad you brought me here.” Kai, despite the location, was having a good time. But there was another thing that was bothering him. He looked at Jinora with a frown, “Just one question though,” Jinora nodded her head, telling him to ask away. “Why is your brother following us?”

Now Kai had no problem with Jinora’s brother, Meelo, but he was distracting (and slightly creeping) Kai out. Jinora sighed as she whipped her head around, seeing Meelo duck behind a bookshelf unsuccessfully. Kai saw something in Jinora’s eyes for a split second, it was rage but more like a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment. “What,” she yelped, “are you doing here Meelo?” Jinora marched to the book shelf that was right behind them. He could try to run but Jinora already had her eyes pinned on him. “Meelo, don’t even try to run. Come here,” she demanded.

Meelo peaked out from behind the other row of shelves, he was quick on his feet Jinora had to give him that. “I’m on a top secret mission,” Meelo whispered in that fake-deep voice he tries to use to hide his voice cracks, “direct orders from the general.”

“You mean Dad?” Jinora said, now just simply annoyed. She looked back at Kai. He had decided to focus on his notes, giving Jinora and her little brother some privacy. She blushed, he was really sweet.  _ Meelo _ . “Ugh, can you just leave us alone please?” 

Meelo stood up straight now, he may have only been 11, but he sure was growing fast. Jinora was still taller, but he was catching fast, nearly up to her shoulder. “Sorry, direct orders. No can do,” he repeated. 

Jinora knew exactly what was going on. She just exhaled loud enough to show Meelo she was done with his games and quickly sent a text to her mom:  _ Dad sent Meelo to spy on me and Kai _

Within a minute Jinora heard the unmistakable sound of Meelo’s ringtone, the pokemon theme song. He was on the phone for only a few moments, “Okay mom, can I at least go hang out with Jonah?” Meelo then hung up the phone and walked right up to his sister and the boy, “Mission has been called off. Mom said you have to pick me up from Jonah’s later tonight though. Whenever you’re done with  _ this _ ,” he gestured at Kai. 

Jinora sighed, again, “Fine Meelo, now leave please.” With that her little brother finally walked away and she watched him walk out of the building. “Sorry about that,” she said to Kai. 

Kai, who more or less zoned out for the last 5 minutes finally looked up again, “It’s fine!” he explained, “I’ve seen him following us since we left your house so I thought I would tell you.” He laughed, once again running a hand through his hair. 

Jinora also laughed as she packed her things into her bag and grabbed her keys, “Now let's go on our real date!” She grabbed his hand and started dragging him out of the Library. 

“What? I thought this was our real date?” Kai said, his voice dropped like he was concerned and Jinora realized he was a bit hurt. 

“Kai, it's okay. I planned this,” she gave him her sweetest smile. “I know my dad would send one of the minions after us, I just wasn’t sure when or which one,” she stated. “Now that the spy is gone we can go have some real fun!” 

Kai took a second to process but eventually gave her a huff of recognition, “Wow, way to think ahead Jin.” Kai was still being dragged by one hand, his other trying to stuff the notebook in his bag. “But really, I thought you liked this place? We can stay if you want,” he expressed. 

Jinora turned around and stopped them both, “I do love it here, and we can come here plenty. But this is our first real date, no way are we spending it at the Library. And this is me talking!” Jinora laughed. She grabbed his hand again and they walked towards Jinora’s car. 

…

“Where are we going Jinora?” Kai asked her again. Jinora just turned the music up, the already loud bass drowning him out even more. 

“Don’t worry,” Jinora yelled over the music, “you’re gonna love it!” 

Kai huffed again but quickly found a groove with the music. His head swayed to the beat as Jinora took them down the freeway and off an exit Kai was unfamiliar with. 

She turned down the streets without directions and pulled into a parking lot with a big building in it. Kai’s face lit up with joy, “No way!”

“Yes way,” Jinora confirmed, “Now let's go fly.” Jinora grabbed his hand and quickly led them into the trampoline park.

Kai had always wanted to go to a place like this, but he never had a chance growing up. He could hardly contain his excitement… that is until they got to the front desk and he looked at the prices. “Uh, Jinora. This is great and all but I can’t afford this,” Kai said with a defeated voice. Kai was used to not having money for things, but it didn’t make it any less easier. 

Jinora could tell this was a sore spot but quickly reassured him, “Don’t worry about that. The city runs this place, I can get us in for free.” She flashed a big grin and pulled out her Republic City ID with a fancy ‘all access’ sticker on it. “Just one of the perks of my Dad,” she smiled. 

Kai’s jaw dropped, “Free? Like free free? Really?” 

“Yes Kai, free free,” she reassured him. “Now let go to the foam pit! I’ve been trying to get this double back flip down and I could use your help.”

Jinora could see the excitement on Kai’s face, very childlike she thought. He practically ran straight into the pit his first time he was so excited. There was pure happiness on his face as Kai launched himself into the sea of red and yellow foam. “Ahhhh!” Kai started grunting, “how do you get out of this stuff?” He started squirming around like a worm, unable to make any ground back to the platform. 

Jinora only laughed at his struggle, “calm down Kai. Just try to get your body as close to the surface as you can and just army crawl out,” she explained to him from across the pit. Kai finally got himself to the platform and pulled his body out of the foam. Jinora giggled at him, he was already covered in sweat, his black shirt hugging his frame. His hair was all messed up and Kai was about to run his hand through his hair again when Jinora beat him to it, “You’re like a little kid in here, huh?”

“Oh,” Kai grinned, “absolutely.” He wrapped his arms around Jinora and threw her into the pit before she could stop him. 

“Kai!” she yelled out, “what the-” And then she saw his body flying over her and crashing down just a few feet away. His head suddenly appeared in front of hers, “this is much better than the library,” Kai said and kissed her cheek as he started fighting his way back to the platform. 

“Yeah,” Jinora said, her hand instinctively going to her cheek where his lips had left a cold spot, “Much better than the Library.” 


	8. Rumors

The mango-strawberry smoothie that swishes inside of her mouth is a blessing from the very first sip. No matter who you are, the trampoline park will always get the better of you. She’s so entranced by the cold sweetness that she jumps when she feels something rub against her bare ankle. She looks up to see Kai, just as entranced by his own beverage. He doesn't seem bothered by the skin on skin contact that’s happening under the small table. Jinora chooses to push her foot back at him, enticing a giggle from Kai as he looks up, “Are you playing footsie with me?” Kai asks with a slyness in his voice. 

“You started it,” Jinora says back. She wraps their feet together even more as they silently enjoy the bliss of a cold drink and physical contact. The music from the smoothie bar is faint but clear, the radio continues to play the ‘top 100’ pop songs in the background. It’s only 6pm, the sun is slowly setting behind the city’s massive horizon. The street lights flicker on in a pattern, zigzagging across the street as their electricity starts to buzz from their efforts. 

A text tone pings from across the table. Kai grabs his phone and glares down, he quickly types a message and looks up at Jinora, “hey, I gotta start heading home.” He takes another sip of his smoothie, slurping up the remnants with a loud effort. Kai lets a satisfied breath out as he tosses the cup in the bin right behind him. “Are you ready to go?”

Jinora had been lost in thought for most of the time. She studied Kai’s features as she slurped her own smoothie to a finish. She sets it down and Kai immediately tosses it into the bin, the empty cup landing on his own. “Yeah,” Jinora finally says, “I need to get Meelo anyways.”

The car was parked close by and they silently buckled themselves in as the engine hummed to life. Jinora backs out of the parking spot, her hand on the back of Kai’s seat as she looks behind her to reverse the car. “Where do you want me to drop you off?” Jinora asks him as she switches gears to ‘drive’. 

Kai thinks for a short second, debating his options. Mako’s apartment is in the city, fairly close to many landmarks he could choose from. Kai has been sleeping on his couch since Jinora bailed him out of jail last month. He knew he could have just told Jinora to drop him off  _ at Mako’s _ but he felt like having a few minutes to clear his head. He looked down at his phone, the ‘maps’ app opened as he looked for a good spot. “Uh,” he fumbles as he zooms in for the name of the park, “drop me at Sato Park?” he says. 

Jinora silently agrees as she speeds towards the city. It’s a short drive and she’s lucky enough to get a parking spot right in front of the park’s impressive entrance. Jinora mindlessly exits the car, Kai watches her walk around to meet him on the sidewalk. Kai steps out, his skateboard loosely gripped in his hand as he adjusts his backpack. “I had a really great time,” he says as a blush fights its way onto his cheeks. 

“Yeah,” Jinora says, equally fighting her own blush, “I had a really good time too, Kai.” The way his name comes out of her mouth is going to become addictive, Kai already knows it. He was lost in her eyes for a moment when he realized she was speaking again, “Do you want to go out again?” she had asked him. 

Kai nearly screamed the word yes but collected himself, he was still a charmer is anything, “place and time,” he says smoothly as he takes a step closer and grabs her hand with his free one, “I’ll be there.” 

Jinora’s flush was clearly winning, her pale complexion doing little to hide the red spreading down her face and neck. She choked out the words but they somehow sound steady, “How about you plan the next date?” she squeezes his hand a little and she feels the pressure as he squeezes back. 

Kai leans in without thought, his body on auto-pilot as he takes Jinora’s lips in his and kisses her sweetly. All he can do is sigh gratefully into the kiss when he feels her lips move in response to his. A chill runs through his whole body, an inherent desire to deepen the kiss works its way to his head. Jinora doesn’t seem to mind, the hand not holding his winding around his neck freely. It’s not as long a kiss as he wanted, but the separation between them is necessary if either of them ever wish to get home on time. 

Jinora is the first to speak up, “I’ll see you tomorrow at school?” 

Kai swallows the dry lump in his throat, “I’ll even show up on time if you’d like,” he says cooly. His smile turns into a rough laugh as he presses his forehead to her’s. Jinora plants one last kiss to his lips, this one quick and innocent as she pulls away and walks around the driver’s side and gets into the car. Kai leans on the open window as she starts the car, “text me when you’re home,” he says with genuine care. 

“You text me,” Jinora says with an appointed finger at him, “when you get home.” He nods in confirmation as the car pulls away. Kai skates back to the apartment, heart skipping dangerously fast as he cruises the streets. 

… 

Jinora wakes up just a little earlier the next day, going directly to her closet to pick out an outfit that is just a little different from her usual get-ups. Today she chooses a knee length, mustard-yellow skirt and a white blouse that she purposely leaves the top few buttons open. Her red cardigan covering her shoulders warmly. She brushed on some makeup diligently, nothing fancy but definitely noticeable. 

“You look nice,” Ikki says in the car after a few minutes of silence, “who’s it for?” she questions with a grin. 

Jinora didn’t think she looked too out of the ordinary but Ikki is more observant than she gives her credit for, “It’s none of your business,” she simply states. Jinora cranks up the radio in hopes of getting Ikki to be quiet. Mercifully, she is as they finally pull into the student parking lot. Crowds of teens making their way into the school. “Can you get a ride home?” Jinora asks Ikki quickly, “There’s something I need to do after school.” 

Ikki grins knowingly at her, “something or  _ someone _ ?” she teases. Jinora makes a visibly disturbed face. Ikki finally gives, “yeah, I can find a ride. What should I tell mom and dad if they ask?” 

Jinora is surprised at the sincerity from Ikki, normally her little sister would love to take any information she could for blackmail, but she seemed genuinely interested in helping Jinora. “Tell them I have a book club thing,” she simply says. It’s not a lie, not completely. She does have a book club thing, with Kai. 

… 

Jinora can’t help but notice the whispers that follow her in the hallway, mostly coming from the other girls in her class and few coming from the boys. No one dares to outright say it to her face, but it is clear there is new gossip circulating the school and she is caught in the center of it. She does get to see Kai during class. They bantar like normal, if only with subtle hints of flirtation behind their words. They part ways after class, promising to see each other at book club after school. 

Jinora eats her lunch peacefully in the grass, her book propped open on her knee as she pokes her salad with a fork. She is pulled out of her story when she hears the familiar screech of Ikki approaching her. “You better fess up, now!” Ikki demands with a quiet but fierce voice. “You’re seeing Kai aren’t you?” 

Jinora’s face goes stone cold, she’d been caught. It wasn’t her intention to keep their relationship a secret, but it was still new and she valued the idea of growing their relationship in private. She chooses to disguise her surprise with her own question, “What did you hear, Ikki?” Apparently that is enough to get the heat off herself as Ikki reels herself back and sits across from her sister. 

“There’s a rumor that you and Kai are sneaking around,” she says with a dangerous smirk, “and there’s this picture,” she says holding her phone out. Jinora grabs the phone desperately. The photo is blurry, obviously taken from a distance, but it’s unmistakable. Jinora is staring at a picture of her and Kai from yesterday, in front of the park, kissing. 

“Shit,” Jinora says with a heavy breath. She finally looks up at Ikki after sending herself the photo. “Where did you get this from?” she plainly asks. Ikki stares at her, her silent question still hanging from her lips, begging for an answer. Jinora grunts in defeat, “Fine,” she sighs, “me and Kai have been seeing each other.” Jinora sees about a million things fly through Ikki’s mind at her confession and she knows there are more to the rumors than what she’s letting on. “But it’s new, okay?” she tells her little sister like it’s a plea. “What else have you heard?” 

Ikki finally burst with her excitement, leaping forward to hug Jinora, “Oh my God, oh my Raava, I’m so happy for you!” she squeals. Jinora smiles at her but gives her a look that says  _ answer my question _ . Ikki now starts blushing, “Well,” she stumbles, “um, so…”

“Spit it out, Ikki,” Jinora demands. 

“The rumor is that you and Kai have been sneaking off during school to have sex around the school and stuff,” she spit out rather fast. Ikki didn’t dare make eye contact with Jinora at this statement but now she looks up to find her normal poised older sister completely red and frozen with a look of pure terror. Ikki goes to say, “I don’t believe them but that’s the rumors going around,” she trails off. 

Jinora tells Ikki that  _ those _ rumors are fake and that she should correct anyone if they ask. She finds her phone, swiping past the notification of the picture she sent herself and quickly finding Kai’s contact. She types a message as the bell rings for their next class. 

Kai hears his phone go off as he sits in fifth period, oblivious to the rumors circulating or Jinora’s panic about them. He opens the text from Jinora reading  _ “we need to talk before bookclub. Meet me in the library after school” _


	9. Wicked

Kai’s arm is roughly grabbed as he is pulled from his seat in the back of the school library. He’s about to protest to whoever it is that has his arm in a vice when he is finally pulled upright and looking at Jinora’s panicked face. She looks like she’s on the verge of tears, or maybe anger? He can’t tell exactly, her body is rigid but her eyes fly around as they scan their surroundings. Kai gently pulls her into a hug, he feels her body limp against his, “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asks her, pulling himself back and sweeping her fallen hair behind her ear, “What happened?” 

Jinora takes a shaky breath, it looks like she is calming down in his presence, but her eyes are still darting around. Kai is about to hug her again when she stops him and simply asks, “Do you know somewhere we can talk in private?” He’s confused because there is, quite literally, no one else in the library except the librarian who sits idly behind her desk on the other side of the room. Jinora can see the confusion on his face as she clarifies, “somewhere more private? Not in public,” she trails off. 

Kai’s mind goes immediately where any teenage boy’s would. He looks at Jinora, never thinking she would be one to  _ rendezvous _ so deliberately. He smirks at her and wraps his arms around her just a little tighter, his voice is confident but still curious, “Are you sure, Jin?” His voice is seductive, which immediately makes Jinora jump away. Jinora berates him, something about teenage boys and hormones. Kai quickly realizes his mistake and apologizes, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable I thought you meant...” he goes off. Jinora laughs at him.  _ Good,  _ Kai thinks,  _ he didn’t ruin it completely _ . Jinora tilts her head, asking for an answer to her previous question. Kai takes her hand as he leads her towards the athletic fields. 

It’s a silent walk. Jinora had dropped his hand at the first sight of other people, just quietly following his path. Kai wishes she would let him hold her hand but she is obviously freaked out by something. He just keeps walking, listening to her soft footsteps trail his. He leads them past the locker rooms and up a set of stairs. She’s never been here before, she realizes it’s because only the athletes ever walk around this part of school. Kai keeps walking until they reach the top where there’s three doors, he opens the one on the right and lets her walk through. Jinora quickly recognizes that they are in the broadcasting booth above the main field. It is private, but there are big windows that people could see in so she decides to seat herself in the back where onlookers wouldn’t be able to see them,  _ no need to fuel the rumors _ Jinora thought. 

Kai closes the door softly and checks down to the field. It’s still early, so practices haven’t started yet but they would soon. He turns to join Jinora on the floor, “What’s wrong?” he asks as he pulls her hand into his. Kai rubs circles on the back of her hand with his thumb as he watches her pull her phone out with her other hand. 

Jinora unlocks her phone and opens the photo, “this,” she pointedly says. Kai takes the phone with his free hand and examines the picture. It’s blurry, but he can tell it’s a picture of two people kissing at the park. His mind makes the connection seconds later, a resounding ‘oh’ falling from his mouth as his eyes go wide. “Yeah,” Jinora says, “oh.” Jinora takes her phone back and glares up at Kai, “Have you heard the rumors going around today?” she asks, because it really seems like Kai is surprised right now. 

Kai is really surprised right now. He’s processing this new information as fast as he can. He knows Jinora wanted to keep their relationship private, for now. She told him specifically that she wanted the chance for them to grow as a couple before they went public, so that they were confident in themselves before allowing public pressure to hit them. It was a genuine desire from her, and he didn’t mind it at all. He actually thought it was a good idea since he had past relationships shatter because of public pressure too soon. Kai then realizes that Jinora had said something about rumors going around, “What rumors?” he says. “I haven’t heard anything, I’m not much of a gossip,” he says with a giggle, hoping that would calm her down. 

Kai is successful, Jinora smiles just a little as she sighs and falls into his side. She seems much more comfortable now as she groans, “There’s rumors going around that you and I are seeing each other,” she states. 

Kai is confused again, he knows she wanted to keep them private but he doesn’t really see the harm in a rumor that is technically true. “Um,” he coughs, “we are… aren’t we?” he asks. He definitely wants this confirmation from Jinora. 

Jinora sighs again, she leans in and gives his check a kiss, “we are,” she clarifies, “that’s not the rumor I’m worried about.” She can see Kai’s face light up at the confirmation of their relationship status, but this next part is going to be awkward and she is not excited to tell him the rest of the rumors. 

“What other rumors are there?” he asks with concern, still rubbing soothing circles on her hand. He can tell she is physically uncomfortable, but she isn’t pulling away from him. “Is it bad?” he chuckles. 

Jinora decides that it is going to be infinitely easier to say it if she isn’t looking at him. So she looks down at their hands as she speaks, “There’s rumors going around that you and I are sneaking off during school to  _ have fun _ ,” she puts it, emphasising the last two words with long drawn-out syllables. 

The realization hits Kai much quicker this time, “oh,” he lets go of her hand, “um,” he fumbles. Kai isn’t really sure what he should say. He looks back at Jinora who is very clearly embarrassed at the moment. He decides that honesty is the best option here, “I’m not sure what to say.” 

Jinora takes his hand again, “You really didn’t hear?” she quizzes him. To be fair, she didn’t start picking up on the rumors until Ikki had told her, which made her pay attention. Jinora really isn’t sure what to do, she really thought Kai would have heard the rumors too. “What should we do?” she asks him. 

“I-” Kai starts, “I- I don’t know,” he blurts out. Kai decides they need to focus on one thing at a time, “Do you know who started the rumors? Where did that picture come from?” he asks, not really expecting an answer but asking anyways. Jinora shakes her head in defeat, no answers from her end. Kai takes the initiative, people talk, they will simply have to deal with it. “Hey,” Kai says, taking her hand again, “it’s just rumors, we can deal with it.” He kisses her temple softly and lets Jinora lean into him more. “We can deal with it.”

… 

They really did have book club. Which they just barely made it to on time. It didn’t help that as soon as they entered, Kai following Jinora and sitting next to her, that some girls started giggling and whispering across from them. Jinora glared at them, challenging them to continue. She won that fight.  _ She’s feisty _ Kai thought, silently chuckling as he pulled out his own book. 

Mako appeared moments later in the doorway, a silence fell across the room as the leader of the club entered. The meeting was surprisingly uneventful, or normal, whichever way you want to put it. It ended blissfully quick, allowing Jinora to drag Kai away once Mako dismissed them. She heard Kai tell Mako something about being home later as she hauled him out the room. 

“What did you mean when you told Mako you would be home later?” Jinora asked him. She was curious, but not prying. 

Kai answered easily, “I’ve been staying with him and Bolin for the last few weeks.” Jinora turned the car down her road, he noticed, Kai liked that he was getting used to these new surroundings with Jinora. “I was just telling him I'd be home later,” he states as Jinora pulls into her own driveway. The first thing he notices is that her car is the only one there. “Are your parents home?” he asked. 

Jinora checks her phone, it had gone off many times during the drive, she reads her messages in silence. “Perfect,” she finally says, “come one, we only have 30 minutes.” Jinora gets out of her car, waiting for Kai to follow her into the house. She walks straight upstairs and announces in a plain voice, “Ikki, I’m back,” as she walks Kai into her own bedroom. 

Kai is setting his bag on a chair when a younger girl, Ikki he guesses, walks into the room. “It really is true,” she says, “I kinda thought you were lying to me,” she laughs, the statement clearly pointed at her sister. 

“Ikki,” Jinora sighs, “get out,” she hesitates before adding a ‘please’ to the end of her sentence. Jinora knows that Ikki is doing her a big favor by not telling her parents about the boy in her room,  _ again _ . “Don’t waste my 30 minutes,” she tells her sister with a laugh. 

Ikki’s face lights up, “Oh,” she exclaims, “so the rumors and true true,” she drabbles off. 

At that, Kai starts to blush. He looks at Jinora who is equally as flustered and thinks she could probably use his help. Kai starts, “Hey, Ikki,” he says in a voice that is just lower than usual, “me and Jin really need to talk in private. Think you could give us some space?” He is so soft, Jinora just falls deeper into the thought of him. Kai’s words seem to affect Ikki, she says something about both of them owing her and exits the room, very purposefully closing the door behind them. 

“Well,” Kai said, “that can’t be good for the rumors,” he laughs as he approaches Jinora. He doesn’t want to force anything physical right now, he can tell Jinora is still a bit rough from the whole day. “We really can just talk,” he tells her, offering the seat next to him on the bed. 

Jinora takes the seat graciously, winding her fingers into Kai’s as she leans against him. “She won't say anything,” she giggles and kisses his check, “she’s too invested in my love life and telling anyone would only hurt her own entertainment.” Kai seems content with her answer and lets her shuffle closer to him. 

Jinora experimentally puts a hand on his knee, Kai’s reaction is immediate. He covers her hand with his, “I don’t think your parents would be happy if they came home to this,” he teases, but still lets her fingers squeeze his leg. 

“It’s okay,” Jinora says boldly, “they won't be home for,” she looks at the clock on her bedside, “24 more minutes,” she confirms. Jinora offers him a kiss, waiting for Kai to take it. He does. “Let’s not waste it,” she says with a sly smile. 

Regardless of Jinora’s dedication to her studies and personality in general, she does enjoy the dangerous idea of making out with her boyfriend in her room with her parents not home. Kai makes a gentle counter, telling Jinora that they don’t have to do anything.  _ Such a gentleman _ , Jinora thought. She cups his face in her hand and looks at him happily, “I want to kiss my boyfriend,” she says proudly, “do you want to kiss your girlfriend?” she asks playfully. Kai’s reaction is quick and smooth, leaning into her kiss and wrapping his arms around her waist tightly. Jinora squeaks just a bit into his mouth as Kai pulls her onto his lap. Jinora straddles him happily, the kiss is much deeper now. They haven’t had a chance to do something so blatantly  _ physical _ . And although the rumors may be a problem for tomorrow, it certainly is not a problem for now. 

Kai backs himself onto the bed, pulling Jinora with him as he slowly leans back. He keeps his hands on her waist, he doesn't feel the need to ventured them anywhere else for the time being. He simply enjoys this version of Jinora he has not seen yet, a more wanting and needy Jinora. Jinora takes her cardigan off, but that is all as they continue to kiss. They both know they don’t want to move too fast, there really is no need. They both enjoy this moment and take it. Their mouths move harmoniously together, exploring the new territory they haven’t discovered yet. Kai grunts in surprise when Jinora moves from his mouth to his neck, not expecting her to do anything but kiss his lips. But she latches her mouth to the soft curve of his jaw and sucks lightly, enticing another grunt from Kai. “Don’t leave a mark,” he warns her, “they’ll see it.” 

Jinora pulls a little harder but stops, she pulls back enough to look, “no mark,” she announces, “now you try.” Kai doesn't hesitate as he leans into the crook of her neck, pulling the skin into his mouth lightly as he kisses it. He releases her and choses to go back to her mouth, letting his tongue slide across her lips joyfully. Jinora separates them again, only for a moment before she comes crashing back down again, “We-” kiss “have-” kiss “10 minutes,” she finishes, going back to him now that she’s finished her sentence. Kai smiles just a little too much, she feels his hands shift on her body. Suddenly, she feels herself going up for just a moment but comes crashing back down, her back being pushed into her bed as Kai falls on top of her, never breaking the kiss. Jinora huffs in surprise but she really does enjoy this moment of danger, of bliss. Their tongues have been dancing for awhile now, the taste of each other becoming intoxicating. 

The only thing that brings them out of the trance of each other is the loud knock that comes behind her door. Kai quickly jumps off of Jinora, fear in his eyes. Jinora gets off the bed and ruffles his hair, “Don’t worry, it’s just Ikki giving us a warning,” she teases him. She flattens her hair and straightens her shirt before opening the door. 

Ikki is standing there, a smug look on her face, he tone was forcefully trying not to care about what was happening in the room just earlier, “Mom and dad will be home soon, you’ve got about,” she looks at her phone, “four minutes.” She huffs happily as she turns on her heel and disappears into her own room. 

Jinora is calm while Kai is freaking out. She laughs at him again,  _ he’s so cute when flustered _ . She grabs his bag and skateboard, handing them to him as she walks to her window. She opens it and looks at him questionably. “Kai,” she says, “go out the window.” Kai has that confused look on his face again. She giggles and explains, “Go out the window, hide down the street for a few minutes and then go to the front door. My mom thinks you’re coming over later,” she gives him one last kiss before pushing him towards the window. 

Kai runs for it. He was almost stupid enough to run down the sidewalk but decides to take the alleyway on his board, bringing him out on the other side of the block. He even sees the white minivan go past him as he hides behind a tree. A few minutes later and he rides his board down the block, tuning into Jinora’s house. He knocks on the door cautiously. He can hear Jinora from the other side claiming the responsibility to open the door. “Hey, Kai,” she says smoothly. She takes his hand and drags him back up the stairs, “We’re gonna work on our English project,” she tells her mom while still pulling Kai. He hears Pema say something about the door which Jinora only says, “we know the rules!” 

Just like that, Kai is back in Jinora’s bedroom, not even 15 minutes have gone by. “You’re wicked,” Kai says with amazement, stealing a quick kiss before settling back on the bed. “Absolutely wicked.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been all over the place with this story, I wont lie about that but jeez I do be trying to type words faster. Here is probably one of the biggest crumbs I'll give you but I have some ideas in store to wrap this fic up. I'm looking at 2-3 more chapters! See yall sinners next time ~


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